


Collateral Damage

by Auremberite



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bombing, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-02-16 11:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13053474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auremberite/pseuds/Auremberite
Summary: Peridot is at a party on the Diamonds' private island when it happens, when the neutron bomb goes off, killing everyone else on the island. Everyone except her and Lapis Lazuli. But now they're trapped. It doesn't seem so bad at first. Then they find something, some scattered bits and pieces of the truth. And a death threat that is not to be ignored. Now they have to get off the island, go home. In their struggle to leave, they realize that there's a spark between them. Did the bomb that killed countless other create it? Or maybe it was always there, beneath the surface, the hidden glances, the whispered secrets.But there are still lingering questions that can't quite be ignored. Who dropped the bomb? Why weren't three of the Diamonds at their own party? Why was it that only Pink Diamond was killed that night? Did Rose Quartz know this would happen years before? Were the eight hundred other teens at the party that night just collateral damage?The only ones who know the answer are off the island. And these two teens have to play their cards right to reach them. Choices are made. Feelings left behind and picked up, like leaves in the wind.And no one knows how it'll end.





	1. Party

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all! this chapter is gonna be kinda weirdly worded, as there isn't much dialogue. after this/the first 2 chapters, it gets better. hope you enjoy.

  Peridot:

  They say I used to like the color green. I find that hard to believe. My favorite color is blue, has only ever been blue, will only ever be blue. Unless I’m forgetting something, which I nearly always do. It got hard to keep track of my past from before the Corruption, from before my journey through the Scourge, from before I met  _her_.

  Let me tell you our story; the story of how we went from strangers to rivals to something more and everything in between; the story of how we built a life, left it, got caught up in something bigger, became something bigger.

  Every story has a beginning; maybe I should start there. Or perhaps not. Our story started way before the Corruption, but back then it was a story of secret looks and exchanged glances. So I’ll start at the party. I didn’t get fucked that night, but rather fucked over. My life as I knew it changed forever.

oO0Oo

  Thirteen Months Earlier (Peridot):

  I hate the water. Boats make me nauseous and the school swim team harasses me, calls me names, shoves me in the pool if I get too close. But, thanks to the Diamonds’  _generosity,_  the whole school’s been invited to a party on a private island only accessible by boat – a fancy yacht, no less. And if the Diamonds invite you somewhere, you don’t deny their request. Not without consequences. So now I’m stuck. Stuck on a boat by the water I hate with the people who hate me. Fun.

  “What’s she doing here?” someone nearby whispers.

  “I can’t believe _she_ got invited. She’s such a loser.”

  “When they said they invited everyone, I guess they meant it,” A third voice chimes in.

  I glance to the side. A group of mildly popular kids are gossiping about some poor kid. That’s nothing new. Except when I look at them, I catch them staring back. The five of them whip their heads back, as if I hadn’t seen them, couldn’t hear them. Then again, I did have earbuds in, just with no music playing.

  “And she’s still wearing that hoodie.” Another voice, quieter this time.

  My hoodie is fabulous, thanks. It’s dark grey, faded from years of use, with a Nasa logo on the front. Given to me by my best friend, Amethyst.

  “She always has it on, even in the summer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her actual arms.”

  I thought this area of the boat would be abandoned; outside the main rooms, away from the alcohol and snacks, on the side of the boat far from the breeze in front and sunset in back. But apparently not.

  Another glance over. I recognize a few of them. An Amethyst sister – she’s always loud, making jokes even if they’re at someone’s expense. Carnelian. I thought she was nice, I guess. Less so now that she’s talking about me as I’m ten feet away. Blue Pearl. A lieutenant to the Diamonds. I suppose that’s why they’re all talking bad about me – the Diamonds hate me, so everyone has to as well, or face the same punishment I do. Rejection. Harassment. And then Skinny. Spends a lot of time staring at Carnelian. Lapis Lazuli. Spends too much time staring at me.

  …I don’t really know what to make of her, to be honest. Most people, if they bother to look at me at all, usually glance down, their gazes filled with scorn and contempt. Lapis’s… I can’t read her stares at all. Once she sees me staring back, her gaze slowly drifts away. Slowly, no rush. Slowly, like she wants me to see.

  I’m not sure how to feel about that.

  “Do you think she’ll go crazy tonight? She’s usually so stiff.” The Amethyst girl.

  I glare at the group, but only one girl notices. Lapis.

  She smirks and meets my eyes. “Five bucks says she gets hammered.”

  We hold our gazes. I notice her eyes are sea green. Against the ocean, they almost glow, radiate life.

  She winks and turns away, giving me one last side glance before facing her group.

  …And that’s enough socializing for me. I’m just gonna repress that memory forever.

  As I walk around to the other side of the ship, I see people talking, laughing. But I notice a few Pearls sprinkled in the mix to keep everyone in line. Sent in by the Diamonds.

  The Diamonds are the richest kids in school. Four sisters, White, Yellow, Blue, and Pink, make up the tyranny that rules our school, our neighborhood. All four were adopted by a super-rich couple at a young age, raised to learn how to run a business. Once their parents died in a mysterious accident, they took over the family business. None of them are related by blood. Rumors float around of what goes on between them, but none are ever spoken in more than a hushed whisper. For what if they heard, where would you be then? Ears are everywhere; their lackeys, the Pearls, hear everything.

  “Hey, loser,” A gruff voice calls behind me.

  I flinch in preparation for whatever comes next, but there’s no blow, no insult. Instead, an arm is slung over my shoulder, and I know who it is even without looking.

  “Hey, Emerald,” I greet the spiky haired girl.

  “Yo, you know you can just call me Em, right? Like everyone else?” she asks, flicking a strand of hair away from my eyes.

  “In case you hadn’t noticed,  _Emerald,_ ” I say, ducking out from her arm, “I’m not like everyone else.”

  “Neither am I. They all say I’ve got a crazy imagination. Too crazy.” She laughs. “I agree with them for sure, though.”

  I smile dryly. “What’s your latest theory?” I don’t really care.

  “Yo, you know how this is the Diamonds’ party? Well, why aren’t they here?” she ponders.

  I sigh. “They could be at the house. You know, setting up.”

  “Yeah? Well, why not send at least one? You know, as a welcome party? And the Pearls all look extra jumpy. And I see all four of them. They never get together unless there's something big.”

  “Look, Em, I’m not really in the mood.”

  Emerald pouts, then asks, “Hey, do you wanna go play shuffleboard on the main deck? It’ll be fun.”

  “Nah, I saw some popular kids by the court earlier,” I say, flicking my hand dismissively.

  “Then how’s about a drink?”

  “I’m not allowed to drink. My liver doesn’t work right, remember? Too much alcohol, and no more Peridot.”

  “How much is too much?”

  “Less than a cup,” I reply.

  Em pouts. “Aw, that sucks. Well, I’ll go grab a drink for myself.”

  “There’s no time,” I say, stopping her with my arm.

  Emerald pushes away. “And why’s that?”

  “We’re here,” I answer in a monotone voice.

  Just then, I hear the PA system blast one short burst of static before I hear a perky, “Hey, y’all! Welcome to Diamond Island! Head on in!”

oO0Oo

  It only takes one glance, and I’m already amazed. And shit. It’s one badass island. I mean, I usually don’t have the hots for landmasses, but like – damn. A mountain blocks most of the island view from here, but what you can see is spectacular. The house is on the waterfront, but tropical-type forest lurks behind it for what seems like miles.  You can even see crystals and sparkling stones in the dirt, the light from the mansion reflecting off it like diamonds. And the house itself – more like a mansion, actually – is huge, with multicolored light spilling out from the large windows. I can see at least two pools, not including a hot tub, out back. I wish I could live here.

  A crowd of people surge out from the boat. Some drunk, others high, and a few, like me, are neither. But unlike me, everyone else is having fun.

  I sigh, and a small plume of my breath is visible in the air, tinted pink by the sunset. My eyes scan over the sky one more time as I head over to the gangplank. As I wait for others to exit, I take a look back at the boat. The four Pearls stand silently, waiting, watching as we depart. No movement. It’s like they’re spectators in their own private game. Why weren’t they leaving? They should’ve been the first off, so they could greet guests. Did Em have a point?

  But being the talented, coordinated person I was, I couldn’t walk without looking where I was going. And I was looking at the Pearls. As I stared up, one of my feet caught on the rough wooden ramp, and I stumbled into the girl ahead of me, knocking her off balance. She tripped forward off the gangplank and onto the ground, a two foot drop.

    The girl whirled around, and I instantly wondered how I hadn’t noticed it was her before. Lapis Lazuli.

  “The fuck’s your problem?” Lapis demanded, pushing herself up onto her feet.

  I glanced at her hands and noticed they were bleeding from the fall. Her right knee had a particularly bad gash, cut open by the rocky ground.

  “My bad,” I apologized, holding my own hands up in a conciliatory gesture.

  Lapis stood up and marched towards me, stepping back up onto the gangplank. “Yeah, it is your bad, loser.”

  Her hands reached out to shove me, and my arms reacted before my brain did. I grabbed her wrists just before they hit my shoulders – an act fueled by my desire to keep her blood off my jacket, not by my will to avoid a conflict.

  Her face stopped just inches from mine, and I could smell the alcohol on her breath. She’d had enough to get drunk in the short five minutes I was gone. Talk about talent.

  “You’re pretty drunk,” I remark, staring into her sea green eyes. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

  “I thinking beating you to a pulp isn’t something I’ll regret,” she sneers.

  Her friends, Skinny and Carnelian, rush forwards and pull her back.

  “Sorry, Peridot,” Carnelian calls, leading Lapis towards the main entrance.

  I let out a sigh; you can see my breath in the air in the cold November night. I walk down to the mansion, stuffing my hands in my jacket pockets.

  My hoodie had been given to me by my best friend, Amethyst. She bought it for me on our field trip to the Air and Space museum. The last field trip we ever took together, as the next year, she switched schools. A going away gift.

  The strobe lights from inside the mansion flash over my face – yellow, blue, white, and pink – and I give a salty smile. The Diamonds were so rich, they even coordinated their light system with their names. Maybe I could take advantage of this. Actually have some fun.

  One last glance at the boat, which is sailing away. The Pearls are still on it, which creeps me the fuck out. They should be here, along with the Diamonds, who I haven’t seen once. But there’s no time for conspiracy theories now. I have a party to attend.

  I open the doors and music fills the air.

oO0Oo

  After four hours, the party is still raging. Countless people are passed out, and a cloud of smoke hangs in the air. The whole house smells potently of weed.

  Emerald got drunk around the third hour, and so my only friend is gone. Well, not gone, just passed out on the master staircase. But my statement stands.

  I’m wandering from room to room when I hear someone call my name.

  “Hey, Peridot! Come join us!”

  It’s Pink Diamond.

  …So, I guess I was wrong. The Diamonds are here. Even though she’s the first one I’ve seen all night, she still exists.

  “Uh… Okay,” I stammer, shocked by her openness. Usually everyone at this school is hostile or ignores me. But the most popular girl in school just asked me to sit with her and a bunch of friends. I can’t really say no.

  “So, Peridot, how are you enjoying yourself?” Pink asks as I sit down on the floor.

  I glance around the circle of people. I notice that Lapis and her friends are sitting here, along with a few others I don’t recognize.

  “Um… I’m having fun I guess. I haven’t seen your sisters all night, though,” I remark nervously.

  Pink replies, “You know, I haven’t either. But I saw Greg go back in his boat, so maybe he’s fetching them.” She smiles wider. “Anyways, we’re about to start a party game, and thought you might like to join us.”

  I break a sweat. “Oh, I don’t drink.”

  She laughs sweetly. “It’s not a drinking game. Have you ever heard of seven minutes in heaven?

  I gulp. “Is that the one where you go in a closet for seven minutes alone with someone?”

  Pink smiles innocently. “That’s the one. But we need a few more people, and I saw you wandering around alone. I hope you won’t mind joining.”

  “N-Not at all.” Total bullshit. This was way out of my comfort zone.

  Carnelian stands up from her spot on the couch and yells, “Hey, we’re starting seven minutes in heaven, y’all!”

  Soon, about fifty of us are gathered in a circle, with twenty or so more on the outside; too cowardly to take part but interested enough to watch. Though I suppose that’s where I’d be if I hadn’t been invited by Pink.

   “So… who first?” Pink asks with a smile.

  “Yo, I gotchu guys,” Carnelian says, smirking.

  Pink hands her an empty bottle, and the red-haired girl takes it eagerly and spins it in the middle of the circle. It lands on Skinny, who blushes deeply.

  Carnelian offers the girl a hand up off the couch, and she takes it, staring into Carnerlian’s eyes like they hold the secrets of the universe. Suddenly, the red haired girl pulls Skinny by the hand to a closet, and the door shuts.

  Soon, people are clamoring to be next. Some in the crowd place bets. I just try to shrink down, blend in so no one will notice. So I won’t get pulled into that closet.

oO0Oo

  After about a half hour of this, I still haven’t been chosen. Thank the stars. I’m hoping that everyone’s too drunk, but Pink still has some life in her yet.

  “Y’all sure have got a lot of closets,” I mutter to myself.

  Unluckily, Pink hears me. “Not really. We’ve only got two. The third ‘closet’ is just the stairway to the basement that I boarded up.” A pause. “Actually, I think that one’s empty right now. Why don’t you spin the bottle and head on in?”

    She holds a bottle in her outstretched hand. My death sentence. I gulp, and take it almost tentatively, placing it onto the carpet with such precision you’d think it was a bomb, and spin it with all my might. The neck of the bottle goes around and around until it finally stops.

  Stops on Lapis Lazuli.

oO0Oo

  My heart stops along with it.  _Why did it have to be her?_

  Carnelian pats Lapis reassuringly on the back, giving her a sly grin. Lapis – is she blushing? – stands up awkwardly and heads towards the closet.

  I reach out for the doorknob, but her hand is already there, and our fingers brush. She looks into my eyes and I see… excitement? Fear? But over that is a drunken haze. She’s had too many drinks tonight already. Not a good sign. We both slip inside, and the door closes.

  The first thing I notice is how small the area is, even for a closet. But I guess if Pink Diamond is right, and it’s just a boarded up stairwell, it would make sense. Yet it’s so small that there’s no possible way I can maneuver so we don’t touch, can’t smell the alcohol on her breath.

  “So… are we just… gonna do nothing for seven minutes?” I ask timidly, afraid of the answer,

  “No one’s watching,” Lapis slurs, and my heart lurches. “We could do anything…”

  Her arms are thrown around my neck, and her head rests against my shoulder. I can feel her body pressed against mine, every curve.

  No. No, this isn’t happening.

  “Shit, no, this isn’t – stop!” I say, pushing myself back into the wall.

  I feel it give a bit behind me. Right! It’s boarded up. There’s something behind it. I punch it, feel my knuckles split. But I also hear a loud crack. I’m getting somewhere.

  “Get off!” I exclaim, to no avail. My last chance.

  I feel her breath on my neck, and I snap. And so do the boards, as I punch them again. I crawl through the hole I made, prying Lapis’s hands off. I sprint down the dark stairs, using only my hands to find my way.

  “Where’d you go?” Lapis’s voice calls.

  I hear a series of thumps, and then,

  “Wha- There you are…” Her voice is much closer now.

  “Did you just fall down the stairs?” I exclaim, panicked.

  The pitter patter of her feet on the cement echoes around the room as she comes closer. She throws her arms around my neck in a hug just as I hear it.

  The deafening roar, the sound of a blast. My ears ring, and even after a few moments I can’t hear anything at all.

  But then I realize it’s because nothing’s making a sound.

oO0Oo

  “What the fuck was that?” I exclaim, shoving Lapis off.

  I hear a thud. I pushed her too hard, but I don’t care. Where were the sounds of the party? The cheers? The music?

  Scrambling up the stairs, I begin to panic as the silence continues. Why had it all stopped?

  I grabbed the doorknob, but it wouldn’t open. Right. It was locked. Seven minutes in heaven. I slam my shoulder into the door, once twice. On the third time it breaks, and as it opens, so does my heart.

  Everyone is lying on the floor. Dead.

  That’s the most obvious thing. But even then, a few walls have crumbled. All the glass has shattered. One look out the empty holes in the house and I can see that the sky has an unearthly greenish tint. Another glance around. Blood stains the floor in pools. My friends’ blood.

  Anything, anything to escape the horror. Pick the door up and slam it shut. Dash down the stairs. I find Lapis’s body on the floor. Breathing, but unconscious. Breathing unlike the others. I hide in the corner, bury my face in my hoodie. Cry freely, my sobs ruining the silence that has ensued.

  I was alone on the island. Trapped. With no way out. But then, I wasn’t alone. Because I had Lapis Lazuli.

  My tears fall onto the floor.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lapis steals from ?dead? people and then argues with peri because theres tension which is regrettable and has to fix her shit next chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the island they're staying on is called mask island, a canon place in the show. (the island where the final malachite battle takes place, watermelon stevens live, and where lars/sadie/steven were all "trapped" at for an episode.)
> 
> woo editing things u wrote at 3am is the best! after major changes, at least peri and lapis seperating makes vague sense. before it was escalation over nothing.

    Lapis Lazuli:

  Dreams are a sweet release from the real world. Usually. But not tonight. Memories of the afternoon flood back. Starting when I first entered the island.

  Peridot stands behind me, her platinum blond hair whipping around her face. She stands above me on the gangplank, framed by the pink stained sky. Her hazel eyes search mine. I can’t quite make out what she’s saying. The scene blurs.

  I reach out to shove Peridot as the world spins. Why? I can’t quite remember. I think it has something to do with the blood on my palms. She catches my wrists in a strong grip, but I’m still close.

Her hands are warm. Fuck. I can’t focus.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret,” she mutters softly, staring into my eyes.

  I hold down an internal scream. This is going to be my death.

  Instead of apologizing, my drunk ass decides to reply, “I thinking beating you to a pulp isn’t something I’ll regret.”

  If I beat her to a pulp I’m going to shit myself. I can’t hit anyone, especially not her. How would I even apologize for that? ‘Sorry I beat you up. I did it ‘cause I was drunk off my ass. My bad.’ I’d probably just die of embarrassment.

  Luckily, Carnelian and Skinny grab my shoulders and pull me back. Carnelian calls out an apology to Peridot, while Skinny whispers, “The hell are you doing? Just calm down, dude.”

  “Thank you,” I mutter.

  The scene fades. Another one comes in.

  Darkness surrounds me. The only light is coming from the top of the stairs. I reach my hand out but can’t quite reach the figure standing at the top. I hear her scream, but it sounds distorted. I try to walk but I remember I’m on the ground. How did I get here? I think she pushed me, but I’m not sure.

  “Everyone is dead!” The silhouette yells from the corner of the basement. How did she get here? I thought she was upstairs. It doesn’t matter. She’s here now. Protecting me.

  Is everyone dead? I have to ask Carnelian and Skinny. They’d know. Besides, I think my seven minutes is up and I can go now.

  I crawl up the stairs, but as soon as I see what’s at the top, I nearly pass out. And then I think Peridot has me by the waist, taking me down. And it’s then that the world fades to black.

  And now, the real world floods in.

oO0Oo

  I sit up with a moan. It was all just a bad dream. I’d gotten so drunk at the party, I must’ve hallucinated the destruction.

  But then the room comes into focus. _I’m still in the basement._

  A voice cuts through my thoughts.

  “You’re finally awake.”

  It’s Peridot.

  “Took you long enough. It’s ten in the morning,” she continues.

  “Ten’s early for me,” I mutter, “Besides, I’m hungover. Give me a break.”

  “I’ve been waiting for seven hours. Couldn’t sleep.”

  “Why didn’t you just go upstairs?” I ask, rubbing my hand to my temple. My palms sting at the touch, and I remember falling yesterday. The scrapes are uncleaned and spotted with dried blood.

  “I… couldn’t face it alone. Everyone’s just… laying there…” she trails off, and I don’t need words to complete her sentence.

  “So… it wasn’t just a bad dream?” I ask, my foggy mind clearing.

  “I wish,” she mutters.

  I stare around the room, but there’s no light.

  “Can we go upstairs? It’s too dark down here,” I ask, beginning to stand. My joints ache and my head spins, but anything to get out of this place.

  “Where are you going to go after that?” Peridot asks. “The boat that took us here sailed away yesterday.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. We’re trapped here. On this island. Forever,” Peridot clarifies.

  I sprint up the stairs without another word.

oO0Oo

  Everyone is dead. The house, while still standing, is in ruins. Glass litters the ground everywhere. I find that out the hard way as a few shards enter my foot. My shoes lay forgotten next to-

Oh god. _Oh god._ Skinny and Carnelian, my best friends, lay on the ground next to each other. I sink to my knees in front of them.

  “This is scarier than anything I could’ve dreamed in a nightmare,” I whisper.

  There’s no reply. As tears begin to slowly roll down my face, I feel a hand on my shoulder and I jump, for the only ones here are the dead. But no, it’s her, it’s Peridot. She’s not dead. And neither am I.

  “You good?” she asks quietly.

  “These people… what did they do to deserve this?” I reply in an equally low voice. I’m not sure why I can’t talk at a normal volume. It’s not like anyone is sleeping. “Carnelian and Skinny… they each had the biggest crushes on each other, but were too scared to say anything. And now… they’ll never even know.” I sniffle. “And your friend Emerald… she had a robotics tournament next week. I think she would’ve won. Then what about Aquamarine? I hated her with a passion, but she was on her way to the Olympics. For swimming. Just like me. Think about us, Peridot, we had lives too, and now-”

  “C’mon. Let’s get out of here. This place is bad for you,” Peridot murmurs, lifting me by my shoulders.

  “No, wait.” I move Carnelian and Skinny’s cold hands over just enough so they touch.

  Peridot leads me by the hand like a small child to the door. At the last second, though, I stop.

  “Wait. I think we should get some new clothes,” I state blankly.

  Peridot turns around, eyebrows raised. “You… want to go back? You’re fucking me, right?”

  “Seeing as your pants are on, I’d have to say no.”

  She blushes intensely. “It’s an expression. You know what I mean. But are you actually-.”

  I jog back to the staircase, past Emerald’s lifeless form and up another flight of stairs until I reach the third floor where I already know the bedrooms are. I race through a large, blue door and shove it open. I’m already rummaging through the drawers when I hear her.

  “Are you actually doing this right now?” Peridot asks judgmentally as she walks through the doorway.

  “Sure. Why not? They’re rich and dead while we’re the exact opposite. Besides, I’m still in my stuff from last night,” I reply, digging through Blue Diamond’s closet.

  “What you’re wearing isn’t necessarily bad, though,” Peridot adds, looking me up and down. The action sends chills down my spine, but I keep going.

  “I’ve got some blood on me. _Their_ blood. I just want to get it off. To start over. Pretend nothing ever happened.”

  “Ha! Pretend that we’re trapped alone on this island for another reason? Like what? Vacation?”

  “Laugh all you want. I notice you’re not changing.”

  “This is my favorite hoodie. I’d rather die before trading it in for some fancy ass coat,” Peridot declares.

  “Hm. Lucky you. My favorite jacket’s back at home,” I mutter, grabbing clothes at random.

“Why are you raiding Blue, though? I know White always had the most expensive stuff. I thought stealing that would be your pride and joy.”

  “Because Blue has something I want. Something in particular,” I mutter, finally finding her jackets, pushing through the coat hangers. “Ha! Found it.”

  I pull a brand new Homeworld Academy swim team jacket off one of the hangers.

  “I had one of these back home. It’s my favorite. Blue got one too, but she never wore it. Doesn’t matter, though. It’s mine now,” I explain, slipping the blue and white warm-up jacket on. “Ugh. The tag’s still on. What was the point in buying it?”

  “To prove she can play a sport, I guess.”

  “You mean buy her way onto a sport. She never actually swam. Her official title was manager, but she was a shit one at that,” I muttered bitterly.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Peridot sighs. “I mean, I guess if we’re here, I should take some things too. I’ll be in Yellow’s room if you need me.”

  “Why Yellow?”

  “Because I hate the color blue,” Peridot states. “And it would be my pride and joy to steal from Yellow. She’s the literal worst.”

  I head into the on suite bathroom to find scissors for the tag, but ultimately get something more valuable. Blue has rows of cosmetic products, including shampoo, soap, and acne cream. The high end kind, the kind I could never afford unless it was stolen, when the price was free.

  I grab one of Blue’s backpacks and stuff it full of clothes, cosmetics, and first aid items, ready to head out. But before I do, a small item on the dresser catches my attention. A small, silver necklace with a mother-of-pearl dolphin charm. It’s the last thing I grab before leaving the room.

  In the hallway, I catch Peridot heading out of Yellow’s room with a similar backpack.

  “I’m heading down to the pool,” I declare as we begin to walk outside.

    “What the fuck? You literally never stop surprising me. First clothes stealing, and now the pool. What, do you want to work on your tan?” Peridot mutters.

I roll my eyes. “I’m not that vain, you loser. I stole some shampoo from Blue and I wanna wash up.”

  “Whatever. I might head back and grab some more stuff before we head out.”

  “Head… out?” I ask, confused. “Where are you even going?”

  “Well, we can’t stay here.” Peridot states this like it’s obvious. “I was thinking somewhere in the jungle, the mountains will be too cold.”

  “Why can’t we just stay nearby?”

  “Do you want to stay near everyone?” Peridot demands, now visibly angry. “I just want to get as far away as I can.”

  “If you want to leave so badly, then do it. But I’m staying here. I… I can’t leave yet. There’s something I need.”

  Peridot takes a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll stay with you for a bit. But I don’t want to stay here long. Not with them.”

  “Whatever. It’s not like I need you, anyway,” I call as I whip around.

  I can’t let myself need anyone again.

oO0Oo

  The bath in the pool calms me. Not a lot. But enough. After I’m done, I dry off and dress in clothes. It’s the first time I resemble myself since… well, the party, I guess. I wear an athletic blue tank top, black leggings, and Blue’s swim team jacket. After a moment of hesitation, I add the dolphin necklace as well. My feet are cut up from the shattered glass, but I still painfully put them in black converse.

  I begin to tie my hair up into a ponytail, but then I realize something is wrong. My hair isn’t its normal brown color, but instead a royal blue. Panicked, I grab the bottle of shampoo. No, not shampoo. Hair dye. I grabbed the wrong thing. And now I have blue hair.

  I throw the bottle onto the pavement. I’m not pissed that I have blue hair. Hell, I’d been considering hair dye for a while now. It’s just that another thing in my life went awry, unplanned. Losing the school. Getting trapped. Dying my hair on accident. In retrospect, this is the least of my problems.

  When I walk back to the front of the house, Peridot’s face morphs from surprise to confusion and then amusement.

  “Not a _fucking_ word,” I growl.

  Her shit eating smirk widens. “You look nice, Lazuli.”

  It may be a compliment, but I don’t take it that way. Because of the malice in her eyes, the ice in her tone.

  “It was an accident, okay?” I mutter, my eyes cast on the ground.

  I feel her hand flick my hair, sending it brushing across my face. I recoil, my face showing blatant disgust. _Is she flirting? Or just being an ass? Either way, it’s not really the right time._

  “Ha! How do you even do this on accident?” she asks, laughing.

  Screw it. If she’s going to be this way, I might as well have some fun.

  “Oh, are you impressed? Maybe we should dye your hair, too. How does pink sound?” I ask, putting my face close to hers.

  “I just don’t think it’s my color,” she replies with equal verve, leaning in closer.

  I whip my head away. “Then what is?”

  “Hm… I’m not sure. Anything but blue.”

  “Why do you hate blue so much?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder.

  “Because it reminds me of you,” she replies.

  I stiffen. “Why do you hate me?” I say it without the usual layer of fake confidence.

  She has the decency to look away. “Does it really matter?” A pause, and then an unnatural, forced phrase. “Just your face is enough. Look at it. More like a monster than human.” Almost like she didn’t want to say it, had to say it to hide the truth.

  I blush, but say nothing. Silence follows.

  Her façade falls, her tone becoming sincere. “Shit, I didn’t mean-”

  “No.” My voice rings clear. “I don’t care if you did or not. You still said it.”

  “I’m sorry-”

  Rage rises in my chest. “I don’t want your apologies!” I’m yelling now. “I always wondered why Yellow exiled you! I used to feel bad for you, but now…” I pause to catch my breath. “Ugh! You’re such an asshole! I’m the last person alive, and you still push me away! I hate you!”

  A steely silence. Then a quiet, “You know, I actually think you look really pretty. Even… especially with blue hair.”

  “Leave!” I scream at the top of my voice, clenching my fists and closing my eyes shut. My ears ring from the noise but I hardly notice.

  She scrambles to get away. I hear her footsteps as she runs into the forest.

  I hunch over and begin to sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lapis fix your shit bro


	3. Last Chapter of Hating Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> read the chapter title man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gues who came back and edited this chapter 6 months later just to add in more sass  
> its me, YEET

Peridot:

  Of all the things that could’ve gone wrong, at least it’s not winter. At least I’ve been stranded on an island with supplies. At least I have someone else on the island with me. At least I’m alive. There are at least a thousand things I should be grateful for right now. But I’m not. Because I can’t seem to do anything right.

  “Damnit!” I yell, kicking the pathetic pile of sticks that was supposed to become a blazing fire. Broken and burnt matches litter the ground.

  The nights are cold and lonely. It’s been a week since the party, a week since I saw Lapis. The other girl on the island.

  Who knows where she is, honestly. And who cares? Sure, she might be my only choice for a friend, but we don’t get along. Maybe that’s my fault. Maybe it’s hers. We’re just too alike, I guess. We both have a flare for drama and too much sarcasm to handle.

  Last time I saw her… I wanted to impress her. I tried to be like her, or at least who I thought she was. Angry. Flirty. Judgmental. But that’s not her.

  I should apologize. I think I did more damage than she did.

  “Fuck,” I mutter, standing up. “I have to do some serious walking shit. Ugh, being a decent human being is so much _work_.”

oO0Oo

  The hike back to the house is long and exhausting. Even though it’s fall, the air is humid and warm in the jungle, while being cold and gusty by the water. Paths are hard to find or non-existent, and I find myself using a long knife stolen from the kitchen to clear a way instead. Should I be trusted with a knife? Probably not. I have the coordination of a twelve year old Fortnite gamer. So, none. But at least this place is pretty, you know? The ground is littered with geodes, and while it’s beautiful, it makes it much harder to walk on. Aesthetic or death.

  Not to mention I was starving. Perhaps not literally, but I wasn’t eating anywhere near as much as I had before. All the land animals were dead, so I couldn’t snare those. I had only a faint memory of poisonous berries, and could only find one bush I knew to be familiar – raspberry, I think. I hope. Imagine if those berries were poisonous, and Lapis finds my dead body on the ground – classic Peridot.

  The only source of meat was the fish, but I couldn’t figure out how to snare them. My last resort was the trees. I could get coconuts and the rare banana. Coconuts held water inside, and since I couldn’t make a fire to save my life, couldn’t boil the surrounding water, that’s all I had to drink.

  I basically lived off coconuts.

  After an hour of hiking, the mansion finally came into view.

  And, uh, wow. The entire pool area has been transformed. A canopy has been made out of a tarp. A pile of fabric has been made in one corner. Spray paint has been tagged on the formerly picturesque stone wall that borders the garden.

  Of course, I can’t forget the girl. She sits with her back to me, huddling over something. Singing.

  I can hear it from here. She has a beautiful voice. My feet lead me closer without any thought, using the hunters tread I’d developed over the past few years in school. Quiet, silent. So silent, in fact, that she doesn’t hear me. But I hear her.

 I hear her sing of heartbreak and loss. Genuine pain radiates through her voice. So much that I wonder what she’s been through. Or maybe she’s just a good liar. Or actress. I don’t see much of a difference right now.

I’ve gotten close, five feet away. And yet I didn’t have a plan on what to do.

  “Hey,” I say softly.

  Her singing cuts off abruptly and she whips around, still crouched on the ground.

  “Holy fucking- How long have you been here?” Her eyes are wide, afraid. Afraid of me, how I will hurt her next. And I can’t blame her. Last week I attacked her intelligence and then her looks. Calling her out for her singing wouldn’t be a stretch.

  “Not long,” I reply truthfully. “A minute or so.”

  She stares at me fearfully for another few seconds before glancing away. It’s not like her. Normally, she would have stared teasingly into my eyes, and I would’ve quickly looked away, intimidated. Now she can’t even stand to look at me. Guilt rises in my chest.

  “Well?” she murmurs.

  “I- I’m sorry. For what I said. About you being ugly and dumb and, uh… you probably remember it better than me.”

  She flinches, then sighs, regaining her usual composure. “Wrong again, loser. I’ve already repressed those memories. And I know I’m sexy, no matter what you say.”

  “Debatable,” I mutter, but a small smile has reached my lips.

  “You must be blind, then,” she replies, smirking.

  “I can still see well enough to notice that your place is a dump. Do you want to leave it? I’m guessing you’re kinda lonely, and I’ve got this rad place set up that’s _not_ near hundreds of corpses.”

  She merely laughs in response.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask.

  “We’re literally stranded alone on this island, and the first thing you ask

 me after being gone for a week is, ‘Baby come to my place?’”

  I blush. “It’s not like that.”

  “Hm? Then what’s it like?”

  “Look, do you want to go or not?” I ask, flustered.

  Another laugh. “Sure. I got what I needed to stay here for.”

  “And that is?” I question.

  She smirks. “It’s not important right now.”

  I sigh. If she wants to be difficult, I won’t stop her. “Whatever. Just grab your stuff and let’s go. It’s an hour hike.”

  She doesn’t have much to take, surprisingly. Just a blue backpack.

  Just before we go, she walks over to me and grabs my hoodie collar. I gulp and try to back up, but she has an iron grip.

  “Oh, one more thing?” she snarls quietly, putting her face close to mine. “If you do anything like last time – any insults or shit – and I’m gone, got it?”

  It’s hard to do anything but agree when someone has you in this position.

  “S- sure. Right.”

  She lets go and smiles. “Great! So, where’s your place?”

  “It’s in the mountains. Just up at that cliff over there,” I reply, pointing at a rounded geode-hill.

  As I begin to walk back on my path, Lapis stops me.

  “Why don’t you just go this way?” she asks, pointing at a different path.

  “Uh…” I stammer.

oO0Oo

  Turns out her way cut the hiking time in half. And she’d never even been to my camp site. What. The. Hell.

  “Nice place,” Lapis comments.

  My ‘base’ or whatever is just a pile of leaves I use as a bed and a small firepit inside one of the large geode caves. Just feet outside the geode is a rushing waterfall that cascades down into a river that then runs off another cliff and into the ocean. My place has a wonderful view of the sea as well, and there’s a winding path that leads down to it.

  I sound like a real estate agent. Next thing you know, I’ll go on rants about the perks of open concept kitchens and ensuite bathrooms.

  “Eh, it’s okay, I guess,” I reply coyly.

  “Hm. Mind if I get some wood for a fire?”

  “You know how to start a fire?” I ask a little too quickly.

  “Yeah, as long as you have the matches.”

  “That’s all I’ve got left in life, honestly.”

  She shoots me a half amused and half concerned glance before heading into the jungle. It might be nice having a… roommate around.

oO0Oo

  Three hours later, the sun has set but our fire is still going. Lapis and I set large logs around the fire pit to sit on. I carved my initials on mine. Lapis told me that was dumb, but I told her to screw off. Another social interaction brought to you by Peridot.

  “So, how’s your week been?” I ask after a long period of silence.

  “Let’s not talk about that.”

  “Uh… What should I do then?”

  “Make small talk,” she mutters.

  “Okay, I guess.” A pause. “What did you think of me back at school?”

  She looks at me. “Why? I know you heard the gossip.”

  I shrug. “But I never heard what you had to say.”

  Lapis sighs. “I felt bad for you. Like, the Diamonds hated you, everyone hated you, but I was just… neutral? I’d never actually talked to you, and it didn’t feel right to dislike you because I was told to. But I never worked up the courage. I thought you were brave for never bowing down before the Diamonds, I guess. And you always seemed like you had a… quiet power? Like you didn’t really care that you were alone, and it made you… stronger. I don’t know, maybe it sounds stupid, but… yeah.”

  “That’s… really sweet, actually,” I reply. I only hope she can’t see my blush. “My thoughts of you weren’t that nice. You always hung out with these people and were so self-absorbed and arrogant. And I didn’t think you were all that smart, either. Remember first period bio? You were basically just a prissy idiot to me.”

  “A prissy idiot?” she asks in a dead tone.

  “Ha! Yeah, can you believe it? To think that _you’re_ prissy. I mean, just look at you!” I say, beaming. Glad that we can finally be friends.

  “Oh yeah? What else did you think about me?” she asks, staring determinedly at the fire.

  I sense danger now, but I ignore it and let the flow of the conversation take me to faraway places. “I thought you were always very flirty… Maybe a bit gay? Hm, and then there was your fashion sense. I think that definitely held you back from being more popular. Also, you seemed overenthusiastic. Maybe too much? Like, tone it down, girl,” I say with a little laugh.

  “So what you’re saying is that I’m gay, ugly, and fake?” she growls.

  Yeah, looking back on it, I definitely overstepped.

  “Two out of three, Peridot,” Lapis continues angrily.

  “I mean, I fit into two of those categories too. Don’t think of it as an insult,” I say.

  “So, should I call you Straighty McBitchface now?”

  My face grows red. “McBitchface?”

  “Have you ever seen a mirror, girl? Or do they just break whenever you come close?”

  “I don’t have to stand for this shit!” I screech.

  “Yeah. Sit down. I don’t see how your tiny legs can support you at all. So weak and pathetic… did you skip leg day? For the past fifteen years?”

  “Speaking of pathetic, have you looked at your hair lately? It’s greasier than the floor at McDonald’s!”

  She gasps. “Bitch, no.”

  “Bitch, yes.” I cross my arms and flash her a smug grin.

  She quickly stands up from her log and I do the only rational thing – I run outside.

  Fun Fact™ of the day: I suck at running. And Lapis doesn’t.

  She catches me only ten feet outside the mouth of the geode. I turn around just as she reaches out to shove me. Her hands meet my shoulders and I fall, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I grabbed her wrists and pulled her down with me, watching the shock on her face as she fell.

  I hit the ground back-first, and the wind is knocked out of my chest. I see stars – not bright lights, but small swirls in my vision that refuse to go away.

  Unluckily, Lapis lands on top of me, and pins my wrists to the ground.

  “You’re a grade-A asshole, you know that?” she growls.

  “Dude, we’re like the same person. Grade A asshole… that’s the only A you’ll ever get.” A smirk.

  She hesitates for a moment, trying to puzzle together my latest burn. And then,

  “I’m nothing like you, Peridot.”

  “You’re right. Back in school, I fought back against the Diamonds. You were just their toy. A play thing,” I say, giving her a shit eating grin.

  She literally slaps the grin off my face. Where her hand hit my cheek stings.

  The first words out of my mouth: “That’s mean.”

  The first words out of her mouth: “I don’t care.”

  I struggle against her hands, but she has me pinned down too well, and she knows it, is grinning devilishly.

  “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not,” I warn.

  I bring my knee up into her ribcage, and she moans quietly, rolling over onto her side. I begin to stand up, but she grabs my ankle and I fall again, but this time face first. I use the foot she grabbed to kick her in the face.

  Lapis hops up onto her feet despite being injured. It’s too quick for me to react, to pull her back down.

  “Fine! I’ll go! Have fun being alone again!” she shouts, and I hear her voice crack. “I guess we’ll just be alone… forever.”

  I hear her footsteps receding, and I’m happy. But then I’m not. Because I remember what lies ahead.

  “Watch out for the cliff!” I shout, perking my head up.

  It would be impossible to miss the scream that comes next.

  And the dead silence that follows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *to the tune of "freefalling" by tom petty*


	4. Time to make friendship bracelets, i guess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they're friends now woooo  
> i wanted to call this chapter "status update" cause they've gone from enemies to friends but also that makes it sound like a literal story status update

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanna change the name of the story and im taking suggestions  
> fun fact! of the day: this story isn't canon! that means that some characters can act differently in this fan made book than in the show! please try to remember that as you comment! because it won't be the first time someone "calls me out" over ooc traits. lapis can be loyal. peridot can be sassy. thanks.

  Lapis:

  I’m falling, falling, falling. The world above is growing farther away in slow motion.

  My arms flail around me, until one skims the cliff edge. With a final twist, I claw at the side. My hands find a rock jutting out, and I grab onto it for dear life. The rough surface opens cuts on my palms, but I don’t care. I’m alive. And dangling thirty feet off the ground.

  The rock I’m hanging on to is fifteen feet down from the top. And there’s no way I can climb back up. My first instinct is to call for help. Except I know that there’s only Peridot up there. Hell, we literally just fought each other. And… I don’t want her help. We were just enemies. I can’t expect her to save me. I don’t want to… use her.

  So I say nothing.

  But after a few seconds, I hear her footsteps growing nearer, hear her call, “No! Not her, too! I can’t lose… Augh! Damnit!”

  Only her sobs ring through to me, wake me up.

  “Peridot?” I grunt. My fingers have begun to slip.

  She rushes over, gasps when she sees me hanging. When she sees me moments away from death.

  “Lapis…” Her voice is almost silent.

  And then she walks away.

oO0Oo

  My world collapses in that very moment. My only help is gone, gone because I chased her away. I am the cause of my own death.

  I have all but decided to let go when I hear her rushing back. A rope is slung over the edge of the cliff, and her face peers over the side.

  “Grab on!”

  With determination, I grab the rope as best I can. I fall a bit in the process, but I’m still not dead. That’s a plus.

  “I’ll pull you up,” she says.

  The rope begins to move up. I’m safe. The tears almost begin to fall, but none will come.

  Looking down, I see beneath me lays a pile of rocks. Scattered geodes. Even an impact from this height would be fatal.

  And then the motion begins to slow.

  “T-try using your legs to climb up the side. I think that’d help,” Peridot calls.

  My feet skid off the wet stone. There’s no friction, no pull.

  “I can’t!” I reply. My nerves have doubled.

  Suddenly, the rope gives a jerk, and I drop a few feet. I give a faint shriek before I stop falling.

  “Peridot?” I call nervously. My hands are burning from the rope and I know hers must be, too.

  “Sorry, I fell. There’s- there’s not a lot of traction up here,” she calls. I hear the note of panic in her voice.

  A moment of silence. I don’t move at all.

  “Lapis? I… I’m at the end of the rope. How much do you have beneath you?”

  A simple glance down is all I need to spike my anxiety. “There’s only about a foot left.”

  “Shit.”

   I can see the tip of her shoe. She’s very close to falling off the edge. If she goes… I’ll have caused her death as well as my own. And the causality count tonight is already high enough tonight as it is.

  “Peridot, let go.” My voice is barely more than a whisper.

  “No!” she grunts, pulling with all her might.

  “If you don’t, you’ll fall too.” My eyes water. “It’s okay.”

  A few more moments pass. The tension on the rope doesn’t ease, but it still slips. Dirt rains down from the top onto my head, into my eyes. Her feet are all but off the edge.

  “Lapis?” she whispers.

  Our eyes meet, and I know what’s next. The tears that were building up in my eyes are free now.

  “I’m sorry.”

  The rope slides through her fingers.

  I fall to the ground.

oO0Oo

  But I haven’t given up yet. I dig my hands and feet into the cliffside. After a yard, it turns to dirt. I attempt to slow the fall.

  Twenty feet away and I’m still going fast.

  Fifteen feet off. Ankles wobbling and hands raw, I press my face into the wall as well. My last shot.

  Ten feet from the ground and my hands are slick with blood. Is it working? Am I slowing down?

  Five feet. I kick off from the cliff to try to spare myself from the rocks. I’m about to clear them when the toe of my shoe catches on the edge, taking the brunt of the impact with a loud crack.

  Zero feet and the world goes black.

oO0Oo

  Peridot:

  I’ve finally decided that Lapis is like a shooting star. Bright, alive, and full of fire at first. Then on impact with the ground, cold and unresponsive.

  I watch as her figure falls to Earth.

  Just as she’s almost hit the bottom, she pushes off the wall. The final maneuver that could save her life.

 

  I stare at her unmoving form for a while before I decide it’s time to move on.

  But then I hear it. An animal-like moan.

  _She’s alive._

  I sprint down the path to the bottom of the cliff. The slow route. Not the one way fall Lapis took.

  When I find her, I grab her wrist. Sure enough, an unsteady pulse is still beating.

  But the question is, how do I save her? Whatever injury she’s sustained must be internal. How can I, someone with no medical experience, even begin to work at that? Especially here, where there’s almost no medical supplies save for some bandages, aspirin, and tampons?

  A bubble of hysteria rises up in my chest, but I force it back down. The battle for Lapis’s life has just begun. I can’t lose it now.

  Looking her over, I find the palms of her hands to be completely destroyed; raw and covered in blood. And her forehead had nasty scratches going vertically – had she tried to use that too? But her left ankle was definitely the worst. I could see the bone poking out at an unnatural angle through the skin. I suspect a head injury too, but there’s no way to tell.

  “Okay, Peridot, what first?” I mutter to myself. The only way to organize my thoughts through the haze.

  I gather large swaths of absorbent moss from a nearby log and press it to her hands, her head. To stop the bleeding, I hope.

  And as for the ankle, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t risk pushing it back into place in case I do it wrong and cause more damage. Nothing to but wait for her to wake.

  As I stare at her, I notice a few things. Like the dark bruise on her jaw from where I kicked her. I hadn’t meant to hurt her, but I… hated who she made me turn into. I always felt like I had to impress her, and in the process, I became angry and flustered. I hated the feeling. And I hated her, too. Except now I don’t think I do, not while her life seeps into the cold ground.

  But I noticed a few other things about Lapis, too. The way her now blue hair framed her face, how her eyes naturally turned up. The color of her lips, the pale freckles scattered across her face like stars... She’s pretty. Beautiful, even. I wonder how I never noticed before.

  Perhaps it’s the way she always frowns when she sees me. How my presence causes her anger instead of delight. I’ve seen the way she looks at others in school. It’s amazing to see her now compared to then. Back then she was just another pretty face. Brown hair, surround by friends, and always smiling. It’s a wonder how much she’s changed. Blue hair, frowning, and alone. Always alone.

  It dawns on me now, that this is the first time I have been truly alone on the island. Even if no one was near me, I could always go find Lapis at the mansion. But Lapis is as far away right now as the mainland, in a whole other world.

  I sit next to Lapis and watch the stars until the sun rises again.

oO0Oo

  Lapis:

  Am I dead?

  If the afterlife is just me and my thoughts in crappy darkness, then yes.

  But, more likely, I lived, and was now asleep… somewhere. Maybe I had a concussion?

  I somewhat remember hitting my head as I fell, but most things are blurry and warped.

  Probably another sign of a concussion.

  …

  Just as I decided I was bored, my mind plunged me into a sort of memory-dream-flashback sequence.

  I would rather have been bored.

 

  After what seemed like forever, sharp pain flashed through my entire body, and I woke up with a jolt.

  “Shit!” I yelled, sitting bolt upright.

  As I did, I bumped heads with her. With Peridot.

  “You’re awake!” she cries, pulling me into a hug. “Oh my god, it’s so good to see your eyes again! I thought you’d never wake up!”

  I hold onto Peridot like she’s a lifeline. “What happened? How long have I been out for?”

  She pushes away, and I’m reluctant to let go of her, of the warmth and security she brought.

  “About a week. Maybe more.” She doesn’t look me in the eyes.

  I’m silent.

  “I mean, it would’ve been more if I hadn’t tried to fix your ankle,” she adds.

  “My… ankle?” I ask.

  She nods. “Yeah. It… uh… I guess your foot caught on the way down…”

  I look down at my legs, but they’re covered in a blanket of palm fronds. I can’t feel my left ankle, which isn’t a good sign.

  “Peridot?” I say softly. She’s hiding something.

  She finally has the decency to meet my eyes. Hers are celery green with light gold flecks. Would be intimidating if they belonged to anyone else.

  “I… don’t know if you’ll ever walk again,” she mumbles. “I tried to set the bone, but… I’m not sure if I did it right. It hurt enough to wake you up from a coma, Lapis. That can’t be good.”

  I don’t say anything for a while.

  “Hey, do you feel like moving? I’ve got a fire going back up at the cave.”

  I take a deep breath. “Yeah… Let’s go.”

  As she helps me up, the pond fronds fall from my leg, and I see a hole in my leg.

  Peridot notices my gaze.

  “The bone was poking through.”

  “Nice.”

  She laughs. “’Nice?’ That’s all you have to say?”

  I shrug.

  “What, no sassy response? Damn, you must’ve hit your head hard,” Peridot notes.

  “What can I say? I’m a-head of the game.”

  Peridot’s face scrunches up. “What game?”

  I punch her lightly in the shoulder before noticing my heavily bandaged hands. I wince on contact, but play it off as a wink.

  “The _game._ ”

  “I’m not sure what emotion you were trying to show right there but honestly I’m afraid.”

  I snort. “Me too.”

  “Good. We have finally something in common.”

  “We’re both trapped on this island. Isn’t that something we have in common too?”

  She stares at the sea. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

oO0Oo

  It takes a half hour, but Peridot finally helps me up the path to her geode-hut. In comparison, it takes her about thirty seconds by herself.

  By the time I get settled, it’s night, and Peridot’s setting up a fire. Inside the geode, a fire is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen; the cave glows blue, purple, and pink, and the fire is golden. It’s so full of light, and it makes me happy for the first time in a while.

    Her hazel eyes glow amber in the firelight, and I stare at them, knowing she sees, for just a moment too long.

  “You know, I don’t think I want to argue this time,” I murmur.

  She gives me a wry smile. “I thought you hated me.”

  “Not anymore.”

  She smiles at the fire.

  “What changed your mind?” she asks after a while.

  “Nearly dying, I guess.”

  “That would tend to change your perspective on things.”

  I smirk. After a moment’s pause, “Do you think we can be friends?”

  Peridot looks up. “If you want us to be, I guess.” A smile peeks through her normally stoic face.

  I stare at the stars. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

  “We don’t act much like friends, though.”

  “That’s before I entered a death-coma. I’m a _changed person_ now. Need proof? It’s been an hour and we haven’t started screaming at each other.”

  She nods seriously. “True, true. Uh, counterpoint, that’s probably just guilt. You know, because I saved your life. It’s like debt, I guess. And you owe me, you know?”

  I stare into the distance like I’m on the office. “I now remember why we are not friends.”

  She smirks. “Really? Care to share?”

  “I mean, besides the fucking obvious reasons, friends actually talk to each other.”

  She ponders this for a moment. “Guess we should start with small talk, then.”

  We sit in silence for a while, until,

  “Hey, Lapis?”

  It’s the first time anyone’s used my name in a long time. “Hm?” I ask, still staring at her eyes that so carefully avoid my gaze.

  “Why’s your hair blue?”

  I laugh. “Of all the things weighing on your mind, is that the most important?”

  “I said we should start with small talk,” she pouts.

  I roll my eyes good-naturedly. “If you have to know, it was on accident.”

  “How do you accidentally die your hair blue?” Peridot asks incredulously.

  “I thought it was shampoo! The label was very misleading, okay?” I rebuke defensively. Then, quieter, “The girl on the bottle was hot, too.”

  “But you have to leave hair dye in for a certain amount of time for it to set!” Peridot replies, chuckling.

  “Baths are soothing, okay? It’s been a stressful week!”

  “So you were in there for a half hour without washing the shampoo out?” Peridot asks, wrinkling her nose.

  “…Not exactly. Once I applied it, it looked really halfhearted and lazy, so…”

  “You fucking went back and dyed it again, didn’t you? You could’ve just dyed it your natural color!”

  “You know, this week has been full of bad decisions and I didn’t come here to get shamed for them.”

  “Lapis, there are like ten different things you could’ve done to undo this and you literally made it worse.”

  I sigh. “You know, you’re focusing on the negative. Try to look at the positive side of this.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Okay, first of all, my hair matches my jacket. That’s fashion forward. And, like, also, I look ten, maybe fifteen percent hotter now.”

  “Fair enough,” Peridot mutters, and I blush.

  “Maybe you should dye your hair too,” I joke.

  “Nope. I like being blonde.”

  “Fine. If you had to have any hair color, what would it be?” I ask, exasperated.

  “Blonde.”

  “Bitch.” I take a deep breath. “Okay, any color except blonde.”

  “Platinum blonde.”

  I sigh. “Peridot, I swear to shit…”

  She merely flashes me a lopsided grin.

  “Okay, then what’s your favorite color?”

  Peridot looks at the sky. “I don’t really have one.”

  I look at her for a moment. “I think it would be green, you know?”

  After a pause, “Yeah. I think green’s a good color. Pretty, even. I think it could be my favorite.”

  I beam at her, and after a moment’s hesitation she returns my smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, editing this 6 months after writing: what the fuCK does that last line even mEAn? this is?? whyh? sdfjkljasdjkl;sdfjkl;
> 
> old author note:  
> if u havent noticed by now, lapis's main character trait is loyalty that's like her whole thing, her aesthetic  
> here's a guide to that, skip if you like the "show, dont tell" thing
> 
> lapis:  
> biggest character trait - loyal  
> biggest fear - becoming manipulative
> 
> peridot:  
> bigest character trait (current) - wit  
> biggest character trait (to be developed shortly) - determination  
> biggest fear - tba


	5. this is why the book is tagged under 'mystery'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yall are gonna get woke to some mystery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> canon sexualities: (decided to add in after i had to remove 3 gay jokes this chapter bc this aint a story about being gay, just has gay cast)  
> Peridot: a raging lesbian.  
> Lapis: abrosexual :D

  Peridot:

  I haven’t slept inside since the blast. Unless, of course, it rains. Because now, the rain stings. It’s part of how I know the blast that killed everyone must’ve been at least partially radioactive. That, and the green sky on the first day.

  We’re outside, sitting under the trees. I’m using my pocket knife to carve a stick for no real reason, and Lapis is sitting cross legged, watching the ocean.

  “You know, I kinda want to go for a walk later,” Lapis comments off handedly.

  I glare at her. “On your ankle? The only walk you’re taking is the one back inside the cave later.”

  “So am I just supposed to piss in the cave too?” she adds helpfully. A smile. “But actually. I’ve been stuck here all week. I want to _do_ something.”

  “As long as that something isn’t me, go for it,” I mutter loud enough for Lapis to hear.

  “What was that?” Lapis asks, feigning innocence.

  “Nothing! Everything’s just peachy perfect!” I replied quickly.

  She has a point, though. It’s been a week since she got injured, a week since she’s been trapped in the cave. The only reason she’s outside now is because her bed’s out here… about five feet away from the mouth of the cave.

  She sighs. “What if I just went down to the beach? It’s super close. I can literally see it from here.”

  I give a harsh laugh as I continue to carve my stick. “How’re you going to get there? By falling off the cliff again?”

  She winces, and I realize I was too brash. “Sorry. It’s just… you can’t walk and I can’t carry you. Maybe it’s better if you just rest.”

  Lapis tells me a few choice places I should put the stick I’m carving. I choose to ignore them.

  Just then, I feel a small sting on my skin, followed by another. I already know what this is. It’s rain.

  “Shit,” I call, scrambling into the cave.

  But then I remember Lapis, see her hobbling over pathetically. In one fell swoop, I pick her up bridal style and carry her into the cave, resting her on a log. As soon as she’s gone, I already miss her warmth, something even the fire can’t bring back.

  I sit down myself and go back to carving my stick. Then I hear Lapis give a small cough. As I look up, I see her giving me a cocky smirk.

  “What?” I ask, rubbing my arm.

  “That was an interesting way to get me out of the rain there, huh,” she says. Her sea green eyes sparkle pale violet against the warmth of the fire, matching the crystal cave. Like she was a part of it herself.

  “I thought it was easiest, okay?” I mumble, blushing.

  “There was danger and you literally thought the best option was to cradle me in your arms?” she asks, laughing.

  My blush grows deeper. “I panicked, okay? It was a dangerous situation.”

  “Right. I too fear the danger that is rain.” she replies.

  “It stings, okay? That’s dangerous!” I counter, only making her laugh more.

  “What a rebel,” she says dryly.

  I puff my chest out. “I can be risk taker.”

  “Mhm,” she says disbelievingly.

  “I’ll prove it!” I call, facing the edge of the cave. “Watch this!”

  “Peridot,” Lapis says weakly. Her heart isn’t in it.

  I reach my trembling hand forward to touch the rain. Just before I first make contact, a flash runs through the sky and thunder booms, and I stumble back, falling down just before the cold fire pit.

  Lapis laughs. “Aw, Peri.”

  I swear under my breath before turning to her.

  “Don’t worry. I still think you’re a badass,” she assures.

  My frown turns into a calm smile. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

oO0Oo

  After three hours, the rain still hasn’t stopped. We’re trapped inside the cave with no firewood, no food.

  As Lapis stares out of the geode, she murmurs, “You know, I used to love going out in the rain.”

  “You should go out there now. Really. Just go straight out into the rain. Stay out there for a few hours,” I reply.

  “I thought you didn’t want me walking anywhere.”

  “Ah, never mind then. Looks like you found a flaw in my genius plan,” I concede.

  “The only flaw,” she mutters.

  I stare wistfully at the sky. “Dude, I can’t wait until your ankle heals and we can get off this island. Then there’ll finally be normal rain. Also running water and wifi.”

  Lapis turns to me. “You’re joking, right?”

  I look at her. “Of course not. What do you mean?”

  “Peridot, why do you think that the mainland is going to be any different?” she asks, waiting a moment to let it sink in. Realizing I haven’t understood, she explains, “Chances are, whatever hit the island also hit Beach City.”

  I had never even allowed myself to consider that, that my friends and family on the mainland could be gone just like the others. Tears well in my eyes, and Lapis pats my back.

  “I mean, you said you thought this was because of a bomb, right?” Lapis asks gently. “That would have a widespread area of destruction. And besides, it’s not like this island was the target, anyways. The center would be somewhere else.”

  I nod. “Yeah. I did some research on this stuff before the blast. It could be a neutron bomb. That would kill people without too much damage to infrastructure, like the house.”

  Lapis frowns. “Why’d you need to do research on it?”

  “Someone asked me to. It was about a year ago, I think.”

  The blue haired girl leans forward with an intensity in her sea green eyes that I’d never seen before.

  “Who was it, Peridot?” she murmurs.

  I gulp. “A friend of a friend. Someone who went to my best friend Amethyst’s school.”

  “The name?” Lapis growls.

  “Rose Quartz.”

oO0Oo

  Lapis swears viciously.

  “Uh… why?” I ask cautiously.

  The blue haired girl sighs. “I guess it’s time I explained a few things.”

  “Go for it,” I mutter, scared by her intensity.

  “Well, I’m sure you’re aware that even though we’re in 10th grade, it’s my first year at Homeworld Academy, even though the high school starts at 9th?” she starts.

  “And you know how your friend Amethyst went to our school for elementary and middle school? But for high school, her parents couldn’t afford it, so she went to Beach City High School? The public one?”

  I nod mutely.

  Lapis sighs. “Well… last year, I went to school with her at the public school. I even knew her. And Rose Quartz.”

  My eyes widen. “So… you knew Amethyst? And my friends? There was Garnet, Pearl, and-”

  Lapis’s glare silences me. “Yeah, I knew them. We just… weren’t on the best terms. But anyways, I’m focused on Rose. She and Pink Diamond had a huge rivalry. A turf war between their two gangs. People died. And from what you’ve said, Rose wanted to know about the exact bomb that killed Pink a year before it dropped.”

  I stare at her in shock. “So you’re saying… you think…”

  “All I’m saying is that it was hella suspicious. And I think the answers are on the mainland with Rose.”

  “Do you want to go to Beach City, then?” I ask.

  “Hell no,” Lapis spits. “Can you imagine the anarchy that’d be going on there? Here, we’re safe. This place is like a literal paradise. An oasis, even. We have peace, quiet, food, safe water, a home – so much. We have a chance to have mental stability and to become friends. We can trust each other. That’s more than people over there have, I bet. But then even if we wanted to leave, could we? It was a thirty minute ride here by a boat with a motor. Us? We’d have to build a raft and hope we drift far enough in the right direction without running out of supplies or having the raft break. No, it’s best if we stay here.”

  But now that I know this might not have been a fluke, I can’t just wait here. I have a burning passion to leave, to find Rose and ask her a million different questions. I want to know who killed so many people and fight them.

  … And if Rose knew about this, then she might have been able to protect people. Her friends. And that includes Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl. My only real friends in the world. If they were alive…

  No. If we gave up everything, and they were dead? It would be devastating. And besides, here I have Lapis. She’s kind, funny, loyal, beautiful – and she’s my friend, too. I guess we’re best friends now as well. There’s no competition left. So if she wants to stay, I can’t just leave her.

  “Peridot?” Lapis asks.

  I shake my head. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine. You’re right. It’s just… I wish I could know.”

  Lapis looks at the sky. The rain is just a mist now. Safe to walk through. But the clouds aren’t gone.

  “So do I.”

  She looks so wistful that I say, “Hey, if you still want, we could go down to the beach. I think the rain’s stopped.”

  Lapis smiles, and once again, I notice how pretty she is. “Yeah? You sure I can make it down there?”

  “I think you can make it anywhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> theories? is it clear cut? or some1 else? i don't want it to follow the path of PD's canon murder, but if they align... what can u do? also, still need advice, as i would like to change the story name. please don't make it super lengthy; this aint no title of a fob song.


	6. swimming i guess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peridot is lesbian and realizes lapis is a hot girl rip @ peridot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i redid all of the old chapters and they suck like half as much
> 
> this chapter took forever to write I was so bored with it like I have a solid plan for the story and this is just like the downtime where they're just friends and it's so hard to write I just want them to be in love

  Peridot:

  “Remind me again why I agreed to this?” I mutter as the blue haired girl leans on me for support. She still can’t walk on her own, and for some reason I still agreed to take her to the beach. You know, the one only accessible through a long downhill slope. Or if you jumped off a cliff. But I think one more drop from that would finish off both of us.

  Lapis smiles. “Because you’re trying to escape the truth I just unleashed in the cave. Oh, and because I haven’t had a shower since before I fell.”

  My face reflexively scrunches up. “It’s been two weeks.”

  “To be fair, I was in a coma for one of them,” she replies, shrugging.

  “To be fair, hurry the fuck up,” I say, glaring at her. “You smell like the middle school locker room.”

  She grins. “Can’t do that. I think you’ll want to bask in my scent. You know, that lovely body odor.”

  I glare at her. “I hate you.”

  “Hm, love you, too.”

  I can’t quite contain the smile that plays out on my lips. Lapis smiles softly.

  “What?” I ask, blushing.

  “People don’t tell you that much, do they?” she says.

  “Not really.”

  “Yeah, I forgot you were kind of a loner at school. You’re so outgoing here,” Lapis remarks.

  “I don’t really have any reason to be shy anymore,” I reply simply.

  “Why? Are you not afraid of me?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Is that a compliment?” she asks.

  “Mostly.”

  “Good to know.”

  We walk – or hobble, in Lapis’s case – and finally reach the beach. As soon as the blue haired girl’s foot touches the sand, it’s like she comes to life. Her strides grow longer, more confident. Her smile grows deeper. Her eyes sea green eyes that so perfectly match the color of the ocean come to life.

  “Yo, I got it from here,” Lapis says, pushing me away.

  She hops for the last few steps. Once she reaches the water, she becomes like a fish, twisting and turning in the bright water. Her home is the ocean. How could I not have realized that before?

  Her heads pops out of the water, her eyes sparkling and grin wide. It’s the happiest I’ve seen her in the past three weeks. “Hey, you should come swim with me. The water’s warm,” she calls.

  Her eyes are more alive than the ocean, I’ve decided.

  I shake my head. “No thanks. I’ll… uh… do it later.”

  “Peridot, get in the water. Don’t make me drag you in.”

  “You can’t drag anything with that leg.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Look, do you want to get in or not?”

  “Not really.”

  “Can you swim?”

  Her question, though abrupt, hits the truth.

  “Not really. It’s not a big deal, though. I can just watch you.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, it’s not a big deal. But you’re not watching. Just come into the shallow area. It’ll be fun.”

  “Drowning isn’t exactly in my definition of fun, Lapis.”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know, man. You’re missing out.” The blue haired girl dives under the surface again, and I can see her spinning and twirling through the clear water.

  I stare over the water. It’s calm, right? I can do this. The water touches my toes. It feels nice. Now it’s up to my ankles. Not bad.

  Suddenly, Lapis pops up in front of me. “Nice, dude! You actually came in!”

  Her comment makes me shine with pride. I walk in even deeper, pushing Lapis back.

  “Okay. Right here is good,” she says.

  “Good for what?” We’re waist deep now.

  “For this,” she replies, splashing me.

  “Oh, it is _so_ on,” I say. I bring my hands up over my head and smash them into the water. It only makes a tiny splash. “Wait-”

  Lapis takes advantage and douses me in water. I splash back blindly, unable to see in the torrent of water. But it’s mostly me getting wet anyway.

  I flip over onto my stomach and use my feet to kick water at her. She laughs and goes underwater. My head swivels around until I hear,

  “Looking for something?”

  I whip around to find her face inches from mine, grinning arrogantly. _Holy shit, she’s hot and really close._ I stumble back into the water, blushing.

  Lapis laughs and reaches her hand out to me. I take it, and she pulls me up onto my feet.

  I know what’s happening. I’ve felt this before… just not for _her._ If these feelings were for anyone but Lapis, I’d call it a crush. But it’s her… I refuse to let myself fall in love with her. Shit, did I say love? Forget that.

  We stare at each other for another awkward moment. And then I splash her again. And she does it back. I sigh in relief, but can’t quite get the thoughts out of my mind.

oO0Oo

  “You know, even though I love the water,” Lapis starts.

  “I’m well aware,” I mutter, staring down at my dripping clothes.

  “We should probably dry off. It’s kinda mildly freezing.”

  “It’s the middle of the winter. I wonder why.”

  Lapis sticks her tongue out. “Do you want to get out or not?”

  I sigh and roll my eyes. “Sure.”

  As we enter the cave, Lapis reaches into her backpack and pulls out another set of clothes almost identical to her current one – except these are dry.

  “You have more than one pair of clothes?” I ask.

  She glances at me. “And you don’t? Peridot, it’s been three weeks out here, and you haven’t changed once?”

  I look at the ground. “I like what I have.”

  Lapis brushes by me, and I catch a whiff of the ocean.

  “Yeah? I guess you’ll just be soaking wet, then,” she says, smiling.

  “Great. It’s like thirty degrees out. That’s cold enough for water to freeze,” I whine.

  “Shame.”

  After she comes back from changing, I notice she doesn’t have her jacket on.

  “Aren’t you going to be cold? You’re in a tank top,” I ask.

  She throws her swim jacket at me, and I catch it clumsily.

  “I figured you needed it more, being soaking wet and all,” she answers.

  “I have my hoodie, though,” I protest.

  “Which you wore in the water. It’s soaking wet,” she sighs, “Look, just put it on.”

  Grumbling, I take off my hoodie and slip on Lapis’s jacket. It was a bit big in the shoulders and a bit small in the waist, but it mostly fit. And it was so soft… I could get used to this.

  “Try not to get it too dirty,” Lapis calls over her shoulder, laying down in her bed.

  I guess all there is to do is get sleep. I snuggle up in Lapis’s jacket. It smells distinctly of the ocean. Like her.

  I stare at the glistening cave roof. Maybe I did have feelings for her.

  But that’s a problem for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whats next who knows only me but even thats vague


	7. truth or dare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peridot should not bet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> something big is coming in like 2 chapters :)
> 
>  
> 
> that's not a good kind of smiley face emoji if u know what i mean

 Lapis:

  “Yo, bet you ten bucks I can spear this fish with your pointy stick,” I call across the sandy beach, staring intently into the crystal water.

  Peridot, sitting on a large rock nearby, looks up. “Lapis, we don’t even use currency anymore. Any money I might’ve had would’ve been used as fuel for the fire. There’s nothing to bet.”

  “…Five bucks, then?”

  “No.”

  I sigh. “Whoever wins gets to decide what the loser has to do, then.”

  “Fuck yes. You’d better prepare yourself for so much humiliation. So much,” she replies, throwing me the staff she’d been carving over the past few days. The end was wicked sharp.

  I reach up and catch it in one hand, making me look like a total badass.

  “I won’t need to. I’m gonna win.”

 

  Ten minutes later, I still hadn’t won.

  A small, pearly white fish darts around my legs. I drive my spear down, but it misses, and the motion was so extreme, I fall partially into the water before I can right myself. I’m completely drenched at this point.

  “Hm… I haven’t decided what I’ll make you do yet… How does dying your hair neon green sound? It is my favorite color, after all,” Peridot calls, watching me with amusement.

  I turn to face her. “I’m not going to lose, Peridot. I’m going to catch a fish and we’ll have a _lovely_ dinner followed by some entertainment. And you’ll be the star of the show.”

  She gulps, and I turn back to the water. Fish dart around my feet, but they’re so small… Except for one deeper in. That one’s huge, enough to feed us both for a day or two. But I’d need to go deeper in to get it, and that would scare it away.

  Determination sets on my face. I step back a few feet.

  “Give up?” Peridot yells.

  “Not yet,” I mutter.

  I sprint forward, and a few feet away from the fish, I take a huge leap, raising the staff above my head. With a final cry, I drive the spear down, and it hits its target.

  I whip back around to Peridot, her mouth wide open.

  “Looks like you’ll be the one losing tonight, Peridot,” I say, with a slight giggle at the end. “I hope you’re ready.”

  The look of shock on her face almost makes me lose my composure. But I’m not done. Grinning, I wink and shoot her finger guns.

  Her face blushes bright red.

oO0Oo

  “I can’t carry you and the fish,” Peridot mentions as she goes to help me up the path.

  I take a deep breath. “I want to try walking on my own today. It’s been three weeks. I need to get back up.”

  She looks at me dubiously. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

 I nod solemnly. “Yeah.”

  Peridot helps me up, and my bad leg trembles just putting a little weight on it. I clench my teeth and take a tentative step forward. That was my mistake. My left leg can’t take my weight, and I begin to fall.

  But then she catches me. Mostly, I just lean against her shoulder, but she has her arm around me, too. My head tells me that it’s normal, that she couldn’t let me fall. That her arm was just there to catch me. My heart says it’s something more.

  I try to ignore that.

  “Fuck, you’re heavy. What are you even eating?” she mutters.

  My face grows hot. And it’s not because of what she said. “Same as you. I’ve just got more muscle.”

  She mumbles something I can’t quite hear. 

  “Guess I won’t be walking anytime soon, huh.” I mutter as she helps me hobble up the hill again.

  “If only you had wings, you could fly,” she mumbles, like she’s reciting a poem.

  “But I don’t have wings. Just legs and a broken ankle.”

  “If we could fly, where would you go?” she asks, looking at the pink tinted sky.

  “Home.” It’s simple, really.

  “Where’s that?” Peridot asks.

  “At the cave.” I smile and turn to look into her celery green eyes. “This island is my home now.”

  “Not at your old house?”

  “Nope! Too many bad memories! And also, no more questions!” I say with fake verve.

  “But… why is here so special?”

  “There’s a lot of reasons. No school, no fake social drama, freedom, and… you.”

  “Me? I… oh.” Peridot looks genuinely lost. Her face is steadily turning red.

  “Yo, you good? You look like a tomato, tomat-bro.”

   She doesn’t even react to my pun. What was the point?

  As we reach the cave, she lets go of me, and I’m aware of her arm leaving my shoulders. I’d grown used to having it there.

  “Me… Good memories?” she mutters blankly.

  It was getting awkward f a s t. Internally, I was screaming. Externally, I was fake smiling and also trying not to scream loudly for a long period of time. The things you’ve gotta do in this day and age, ugh. I had to change topics to avoid the dead air. Or get her to be sarcastic. Yeah, she always reacted to sarcasm. “You look like a deer caught in the headlights, sweetie.”

  Sweetie. Nice. A little provoking, a little sweet. Perfect.

  Peridot looked like she was ready to die right then and there. Pale face, wide eyes, and face flushed red.

  Fuck. She is broken, lmao. I should try again.

  “Hm… Better watch your blood pressure, hon.”

  Peridot whips her head up, and by the expression on her face, I feel like I should maybe just stop talking?

  I grin. Or maybe not. I forgot how much fun it was to play around with Peridot. Just staring into her eyes made her freak out. She got flustered really quickly. Doing shit like that was the highlight of first period bio.

  “I’m… Yes! Going… outside. Why? Uh…. Fish! Mmm…” Peridot exclaims, standing up robotically.

  Ah, the joy of watching someone die internally. Nice. I smirked. This was fun. I missed this. It was like a piece of before, when my worst worries were what was going on at home and what my gpa was.

  Maybe playing around wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Being a little extra flirty. It’s not like I liked her. We were friends. Just friends.

  And after all, it wasn’t leading her on, right? It was just playing around…

  But something in my head told me it was more than that, that I had feelings that went beyond just friends. I personally hoped it was just best friends. I hoped.

  You know, maybe I shouldn’t play with fire. Because someone was going to get burnt.

  A loud shout made me look outside. I look at the small girl’s form on the beach below. She’s pacing back and forth on the sand.

  I just hoped whoever got burnt wasn’t me.

oO0Oo

  When she got back, I sat on the log, sassily smirking.

  “So, you remember our little bet?” I ask casually.

  Peridot jumps. Her face is stark white, like all the color is gone. She’s trembling.

  “Yeah, I remember. Try not to make it too terrible, yeah?” She phrases her statement like it doesn’t matter, but I can tell it does. She’s genuinely scared of what could happen.

  And I know in this moment, I can’t hurt her. Whatever humiliation I had planned, this girl’s too much of a wreck for it.

  “Hm… What about truth or dare?” I ask.

  “What? That’s it?”

  “Yeah, dude. I’m not going to torture you.”

  “Damn. I would’ve genuinely made you dye your hair some vibrant color if I’d won,” she notes.

  “Lucky me, then.”

  “Yeah, pretty lucky. I don’t think you’d be half as hot with neon pink hair. The color of blue you have kinda matches out your eyes.”

  _Half as hot… She thinks I’m hot?_

  I twirl a lock of my hair like I’m not ruffled, which I really am. “My eyes are green, not blue. Get your color scheme right, you basic bitch.”

  “Green can go well with blue! Besides, your eyes are a little blue. Haven’t you notices?”

  “How do you know it so well, huh?”

  Peridot snorts and rolls her eyes. “Please. Don’t think I’ve forgotten first period bio. You literally would _not_ stop looking at me.”

  “When you put it that way, it sounds weird,” I mutter.

  “It was.”

  “Hey! Truth or dare!” I say loudly, changing the subject.

  “Lapis, you can’t just-”

  “I fucking just did. Answer the question.”

  “Truth. I feel like your dares are gonna be horrible.”

  “Fair enough. Uh… Truth. Right.” I think for a moment. “What’d you do to piss off the Diamonds so much they made everyone hate you?”

  Peridot looks down. “I… might’ve insulted Yellow… to her face.” She blushes. “I called her an oversaturated hoe among other things.”

  I break out into laughter. “You did? That’s so _savage_ , Peri. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  She grins. “It bit me in the ass for the rest of the year, but it was fun.”

  “Best insult ever, by the way,” I add.

  “I try.” She smirks. “Truth or dare?”

  “Dare. I’m not a wimp.”

  “You know what? Just for that, I’ll give you a fun one.”

  Silence.

  “What’s the matter, P?” I ask coyly.

  “I can’t think of one.”

  “Do you want help?” I say, smiling.

  “No… I can do this. Your dare is… to fit as many rocks as you can in your mouth. No, wait, that’s a choking hazard, and please do not choke. Fit five rocks in your mouth at once.”

  “…I honestly wasn’t expecting this but I’m down for the challenge.”

  I look around the cave, finding five small rocks. Sitting back down on my pile of leaves, I look Peridot in the eyes as I put the first one in my mouth. She rolls her eyes, and I put four more in my mouth. She looks just as surprised as me. I’d say something snarky, but unfortunately, my mouth is currently full of rocks.

  “You know, at first I thought you could choke,” Peridot notes. “But then I was like ‘You know what would be better than that? If she accidentally deep throated the rocks.”

  I spit the stones out and start wheezing. “Peridot, no. Holy… just no. I am not going to deep throat a rock.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “Peridot, yes.”

  I pick up a rock and throw it at her smirking face. It misses, which is probably for the best.

  “You know, what Peridot? Truth or dare.”

  “Hm… I’m feeling a bit… cocky right now. Let’s see where dare gets me.”

  “Big mistake. You forget that you’re actually asking _me_ for a dare. You sure you want to give you a dare? Right after you had me eat rocks?”

  “Yeah, truth. I’ll do dare next round.”

  I grin… I have no idea what I’m doing. Uh… Questions… Things on my mind… “What is your most sexual experience?”

  Peridot immediately blushes. “Uh… I haven’t… ever… had one?”

  “That’s bullshit and we both know it.”

  Once the words come spilling out of her mouth, they don’t stop.

  “One time, I was talking to cleverbot – you know, the online robot thing that learns from what other people say to it - and things… escalated.”

  She whispers something I almost can’t catch after that. Something I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to hear.

  I don’t stop laughing for the next ten minutes.

 

  Once I stop wheezing and crying, Peridot, who’s now very agitated, asks, “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth. If I chose dare, you’d probably have me shit myself,” I say, still grinning.

  “Okay, sure. Have you ever stolen anything, and if so, what was it?”

  “I stole an ear of corn from my farmer neighbor. Tasted like shit. I got sick the next day.”

  “You ate it? Do you even know how to cook corn?”

  “Honestly it’s more a question of did I cook it at all.”

  “Goddammit.”

  “Truth or dare?”

  “Dare.”

  “I dare you to take off one piece of clothing. Just like you did with cleverbot, probably.”

  I watch as she slowly takes off her left sock, then proceeds to put her shoe back on.

  “What the fuck, honestly.”

  Peridot smirks. “Truth or dare.”

  “Dare.”

  “Do sit ups until it’s your turn again,” she says arrogantly.

  “I hate you,” I mutter, beginning to exercise. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.”

  “Why were you such a bitch for the first week we were here?”

  Peridot nervously shuffles. “Maybe because I felt like I had to live up to your standards? Like, you were so cool… I didn’t want to disappoint you. Also because of what happened in the closet the night the bomb went off.”

  I shrug. “I don’t remember that night at all. What happened?”

  Peridot starts laughing, which starts to scare me.

  “You… actually don’t remember?” she says.

  I shake my head slowly. “No… should I?”

  Peridot wipes a tear from her eye. “Oh man, I’ve got such good blackmail against you now. This is amazing.”

  I stop doing sit ups. “Hey, you know what? I’m just going to go outside, and like, go rethink everything now. And probably try to remember some b u l l s h i t.”

  Peridot smirks. “One last truth or dare?”

  I sigh. “Fine. Truth.”

  “Do you like girls?”

  “Is this related to what happened that night?” I question, even more concerned.

  “Yep.”

  I give a defeated groan and walk outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

**Author's Note:**

> what do y'all think?  
> please leave kudos it motivates me :D


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